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BNXT League
Organising body	Dutch Basketball League; Pro Basketball League
Founded	December 10, 2020; 4 years ago
First season	2021–22
Country	Belgium; Netherlands
Confederation	FIBA Europe
Number of teams	19
Level on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	Basketball Cup (Netherlands); Basketball Cup (Belgium)
Supercup	BNXT Supercup; Dutch Supercup
International cup(s)	Champions League; FIBA Europe Cup
Current champions	Filou Oostende (1st title)
Most championships	ZZ Leiden; (2 titles)
CEO	Wim Van de Keere
President	Ramses Braakman
TV partners	bnxt.tv (PlaySight Interactive)
Website	bnxtleague.com
	2024–25 BNXT League

The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the DBL and PBL. The inaugural season was the 2021–22 season, which started in September 2021.

History

On 10 December 2020, it was announced that the Belgian Pro Basketball League and Dutch Basketball League would merge to form a new multinational league.^[1] All clubs from the Dutch DBL voted for, while 9 of 10 teams in Belgium voted in favor of the decision. Serious talks about the initiative had been ongoing since fall 2019.^[2] On 20 May 2021, the new name "BNXT League" and logo of the league were announced.^[3]

The league started its inaugural season amidst an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a great number of games had to be played behind locked doors as a result of national lockdowns.^[4] On 11 June 2022, ZZ Leiden were crowned the inaugural BNXT champions.^[5] The following year, on 13 June 2023, Leiden repeated as champions.

Sponsorship

On 10 September 2021, the league announced its first name sponsorship when Belgian betting company betFirst signed to become naming sponsor for three seasons.^[6]

Competition formula

From 2021–22 to 2023–24, the league consisted of different stages. In the first stage, teams played each other home and away in the national regular season. After this, the teams were divided in the Elite Gold and Elite Silver group for the cross-border season. Next, the teams from the Elite Gold and the 3 best teams from the Elite Silver played in the national playoffs to compete for the national championships. The two winners of the national playoffs then played in the BNXT League Final.^[1]

Starting from the 2024–25 season, the league will have a new format in which all 19 teams play each other home and away in the regular season. The highest ranked teams from each country play national playoffs, and the two national winners play for the BNXT championship.^[7]

Teams

The following 19 teams will play in the 2024-25 season. All teams from the Pro Basketball League and Dutch Basketball League transferred to the BNXT League in 2021. The newest club to have joined the BNXT League are the Kortrijk Spurs, who joined in 2023.

Stadiums and locations

Location of teams in the 2021–22 BNXT League.

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity	Founded	National titles
Antwerp Giants	Antwerp	Lotto Arena	5,218	1995	1
BAL	Weert	Sporthal Boshoven	1,000	2013	–
Brussels Basketball	Brussels	Neder-Over-Heembeek complex	1,200	1957	–
Den Helder Suns	Den Helder	Sporthal Quelderduijn	1,250	2016	–
Donar	Groningen	MartiniPlaza	4,350	1951	7
Feyenoord	Rotterdam	Topsportcentrum Rotterdam	2,500	1954	–
Heroes Den Bosch	's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort	2,800	1952	17
Kangoeroes Mechelen	Mechelen	Winketkaai	1,500	2009	–
Kortrijk Spurs	Kortrijk	Lange Munte	2,400	2019	–
Landstede Hammers	Zwolle	Landstede Sportcentrum	1,200	1995	1
Leuven Bears	Leuven	Sportoase	3,400	1999	–
Limburg United	Hasselt	Alverberg Sporthal	1,730	2014	–
LWD Basket	Leeuwarden	Kalverdijkje	1,700	2004	–
Mons-Hainaut	Mons	Mons Arena	4,000	1959	–
Okapi Aalst	Aalst	Okapi Forum	2,800	1949	–
Oostende	Ostend	Sleuyter Arena	5,000	1970	24
QSTA United	Bemmel	De Kooi	650	2020	–
Spirou	Charleroi	Spiroudome	6,200	1989	10
ZZ Leiden	Leiden	Sportcomplex 1574	2,435	1958	5

Former teams

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity	Founded	Seasons	Last season
Apollo Amsterdam	Amsterdam	Apollohal	1,500	2011	2	2022–23
Liège Basket	Liège	Country Hall	5,000	1967	3	2023–24
The Hague Royals	The Hague	Sportcampus Zuiderpark	3,500	2020	1	2021–22

BNXT champions

The finals were played in a two-legged format in 2022, after that season the format was changed to a best-of-three playoffs series.

ZZ Leiden have won both BNXT championships thus far.

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Finals MVP
2021–22	ZZ Leiden	146–142 (75–72, 71–70)	Donar	Worthy de Jong
2022–23	ZZ Leiden (2)	2–1	Oostende	David Collins
2023–24	Oostende	164–124 (85–58, 79–66)	ZZ Leiden	Damien Jefferson

National champions

Netherlands

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Finals MVP
2021–22	Heroes Den Bosch	3–2	ZZ Leiden	Thomas van der Mars
2022–23	ZZ Leiden	3–2	Donar	Thomas Rutherford
2023–24	ZZ Leiden	3–1	Heroes Den Bosch	Brock Gardner

Belgium

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Finals MVP
2021–22	Oostende	3–1	Kangoeroes Mechelen	Keye van der Vuurst de Vries
2022–23	Oostende	3–1	Antwerp Giants	Vrenz Bleijenbergh
2023–24	Oostende	3–1	Antwerp Giants	Damien Jefferson